Nascar Party ~ Dale Earnhardt For our son's 3rd birthday we had a DALE EARNHARDT Nascar Party.  That driver's number is 3.  I had printed invitations made "Race on over and join the fun..." and the party started at 3.  I made a balloon arch at the end of the driveway, very easy, in black , red and white balloons. I made large 3's and placed them in the neighborhood along with arrows for directions for new comers.  I had triangle checkered flags all along the perimeter of the yard and free standing checkered flags along the driveway. I bought several Earnhardt banners off of Ebay and a large cardboard Earnhardt cutout also. This was great for the group picture of all the kids in their t shirts.   I made PIT PASSES for all of the kids.  They each had their name and their title. The boys were things like Tire Man, Mechanic, Gas Man and the girls were Miss Talladega, Miss Pocono and the birthday boy was of course Crew Chief. The backs of the pit passes had the Schedule of Events, just like a real one would.  We had a large "Hospitality Tent" were the food and drinks were served.  When the kids arrived they went to the "Paint your own racecar" station, set up in the garage.  All the areas had banners I made saying what each location was.  After that we had the "Match 3" game.  I made cut out 3's in duplicate, in different colors and sizes and placed one of each all over the yard.  Then I handed the 3 to the child and they had to go find its match. The younger kids had easy designs and the older kids were more complicated.  My favy game and the hit of the party was the "pit crew Challenge."  Kids divided into 2 teams.  I had a pedal car to work with.  I wheeled the car into the PIT. The team had to do things like change the tires( I taped blue plastic cake plates on the tires and they had to change them to red ones) Fill the gas tank ( I taped an empty coffee can to the back they filled with a hose) wipe off the windshield and fix the drivers helmet (large bear with a helmet on backwards).  Each team was timed and the winning team got lots of applause.  At the end of all of the games, each child got a stadium cup, red, black, white or checkered flag design filled with candy and pencils, stickers etc.  We had a race car piñata...my sister was face painting and then the last activity at every party is always the treasure hunt. The kids gets clues to the next location and at the last location is their big prize. That year I had t shirts made with checkered flags and 3's on the front and the date on the back, my sons said crew chief on the back of his.  All the kids got by the cut  out and we took polaroids and sent each child home with them and a checkered flag from the driveway. It was great fun and I love doing these parties.  A lot of prep work and imagination, but well worth it!!!